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GLENNON
DOYLE

Quiet Power is Like Light

March 30, 2015

There are three sisters who work about forty-nine hours a day to bring you Momastery. Each of the three of us, besides our faith and family, considers our mission at Momastery to be the most important part of our lives. One of us gets applause for it.

It’s easy for me to stay motivated here. I get cheers and hugs and thank yous and WE LOVE YOU, GS till the cows come home. But Sister and Amy? They work as hard as I do without any of the applause. They are quiet warriors.

Know anyone like that? I think that the quiet workers are where it’s at. If God played favorites, I bet God would love the quiet workers best. I think it’s true that character is what you do when no one’s looking, so the heroes are the ones who serve OFF stage. Like Amy and Sister. Like parents. Like teachers. Like anyone who works with the sick, young, and vulnerable. Like Don and Luciano.

At the end of last year I traveled to the Dominican Republic with our partner CWS. Today I want to tell you a bit about two of the CWS staff workers who weren’t the headliners, but the workers in the background, the ones who quietly come alongside to support badass change-makers like Denisse and Melissa. If Denisse is like Moses, leading children from the bondage of street life and towards their freedom, Luciano and Don are Aaron, holding up her Denisses’ arms so the power keeps flowing even when she tires.

This is Don.

And this man in the black shirt—that’s Luciano.

Don and Luciano work for the CWS Latin America office. These two don’t stop. They spend their entire lives on behalf of their friends. Every single day, they show up, boots on the ground, to help CWS to fulfill its mission—to feed the hungry, fight poverty, and end oppression in its many forms. They are in constant motion—translating, planning, photographing, hugging, laughing, loving. I am sure I’m walking into a minefield with this sentence but here goes: Don is a white American man who abandoned his privilege and comfort to dedicate his life to those less privileged and comfortable. Luciano’s story is similar. These are men who believe in the power of downward mobility. They believe we do not serve, we love. They work with not for others. They believe in justice—not charity. They know that compassion can only exist between equals, so they make friends, not clients. They really believe that the kingdom of God is with the poor. And so they spend their lives with the poor not to serve them, but because that’s where the magic is and they want as much magic as possible in their lives. Don and Luciano are men who have laid down their lives for their friends. They have lost themselves in their work and then found themselves there.

Because walking into minefields is kind of my jam, I’ll add this. As a woman who is working through a few unresolved issues with men—spending this time with these men was healing for me. I watched these two pour themselves out on behalf of women and children—every single one a friend and equal. I don’t know, I’m still working it all out. I just know it was good and important. The men of CWS taught me that men can be our sisters too. Luciano and Don softened me.

**NOTE: I watched Luciano carefully (FOR RESEARCH REASONS, JEEZ) and was stunned not only by his dedication and wisdom and respect and humility, but also by the fact that he is single. Because I am always thinking of mature world-changing social justice things, I asked him if we could start a world-wide Luciano dating contest at Momastery and he said no absolutely not don’t you dare NO Glennon NO—which is why if you are an eligible, world-embracing, fiercely loving and adventurous and GOOD AND KIND single lady you should under no circumstances email me at [email protected]. Don’t do it you guys, it’s inappropriate and we should respect people’s boundaries. (do it)

Last year Chase’s teacher said to me: I see leadership potential in Chase, but I wouldn’t push it. He seems reluctant about being out there. He’s more of a quiet leader. I think that’s the most powerful leadership. Quiet power is like light. Light doesn’t make a lot of noise. It just shines and shines and makes seeds grow.

And that reminded me of one of my favorite poems:

Here’s to Don and Luciano and Amy and Sister and CWS all of the people who shine and shine and serve and love and lead. This is us, applauding for you. You are the light of the world, and you light up the whole sky.

32 Comments

Dear Momastery Team:
We love you dearly with our whole hearts. You make heavy hearts light and you are to be recognized and squeezed with the fiercest of bear hugs.
All our love,
A group of your loyal girls from Birmingham

As usual, every post you make just hits home. The meme at the top about the light reminded me of a day I sat down and wrote the following:

I stopped for a moment recently and just looked out of our 2nd story window at the sunset. It wasn’t a special day. It wasn’t even a particularly amazing sunset. Except in the way that EVERY sunset is.
I felt myself slowing down internally, breathing deeper, trying to live right in that moment as I gazed on the blue sky and the orange and golden tones in the air. As I did this, my eye was drawn to the tops of several pine trees, soaring hundreds of feet up in the air, the tallest trees in my sight. Although the sun had already cast shadows at the base of the trees, the highest limbs were lit up, almost sparkling with a light that was breath-taking.
I realized, I sometimes think like the base of the tree. I feel overwhelmed in the darkness and far from the light. But I am not the base, or the trunk, I am the entire tree. And whether I feel it or not, God’s light is ALWAYS shining on me just like the beautiful tops of the pines. The part of me that is eternal, my soul, my essence, is constantly bathing in God’s light, every minute, every day.
Lord, please help me remember to look up, and to always look for the light, because your light never stops shining on us.

Thank you for sharing this! Some days its hard being a quiet leader. It can seem like a thankless job if you forget who you are working for. As for Luciano, Just remember that if you take away his singleness you may also take away his single focus. God gave some to not marry so they dont get distracted… Just a thought….

And what a beautiful light it is! Cheers to the quiet and courageous silent warriors—to us, you lead them, G! Even though I am sure it is them that lead the way for you. Thank you for everything that ALL of you do!

“He’s more of a quiet leader. I think that’s the most powerful leadership. Quiet power is like light. Light doesn’t make a lot of noise. It just shines and shines and makes seeds grow.” You may need to tell us this teacher’s name so we can give her credit when we quote this awesome statement!!

Aren’t they just the best… those steady, faithful, quiet, light givers! Love this post G. My husband is one of those – and us folks, we need them- for sanity, stability and perspective.
Our son was described like Chase was and in a “my way mom moment”I pushed and prodded him into leadership, he not only resisted he backed off all leadership qualities and it took a long time for him to make peace with the fact that God made him a leader in his own way – not mine.
Loads of learning, forgiveness and regret- and yet in the end we both learned. What a huge learning curve this parenting thing is huh!??

I love this post! Imagine if we started to define success by how much a person served others? Imagine if a successful churches or successful corporations were seen to be the ones that served other people the best. It would surely be a different world 🙂 We moms could surely lead the way, because most of us serve our families really, really well.

These people and their stories make my heart beat faster and my throat lump up and my eyes get the hot, tingly kind of tears because this is just so much…so full of what I hope for in my life and my children’s, our neighbors and our world. Thank you to Sister and Amy and Luciano and Don. Thank you to all the quiet warriors. May I/we be so brave to join your ranks. And I pray I will know how – how to do something so real, good, and whole-y/holy.

But when I was single, I would say no to being set up but I really wanted to say YES!!!! I’d say give him the info of ladies that are interested and he can do with it as he pleases. Go, G, go! 🙂 Match makers are healers and heros in my eyes, too.

I hear your heart, Glennon, and I know you are just wanting to love on and bless this amazing man, but I have to agree with Kat. If he’s single, it’s his life story, his karma, his thing. Respecting boundaries is hard!